Having A Bad Day

[Log Catcher]

We have great weather today and the water should be in good shape. Getting everything in the boat to go fishing today. Get ready to hook up and find out I have a problem. The main spring on my garage door is broken and I can't open it to get my boat out. So here I sit waiting for the garage door company to come fix it this afternoon. Hope your day is better than mine.

[A-Jay]

That's a bummer.

I had one pop on me early this spring. 

We didn't have open water yet so I didn't miss any fishing time.

I replaced both of them - 

It's a doable DIY project but you Must know what you're doing.

Those springs create a tremendous amount of torque when under tension, which can do some real serious damage.  The correct tools and proper replacement process is paramount.  Rewinding the pair of 35 inch springs for my 16 x 8 foot door was all I wanted.  But it's done and I may not ever have to replace them again.

Hope you're up & running and out on the water sooner rather than later.

A-Jay

 

[Russ E]

sorry to hear that.

those spring always break at the most inopportune times.

Sometimes it is very expensive to have someone else install the new spring.

Like @A-Jay mentioned it can be done yourself, but can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing.

Having spent most of my life in the maintenance field, it was not a big deal for me. The hardest part was finding a new spring.

[Bankbeater]

That stinks. That happened to me last month. Luckily the company I called has same day service. 

[Log Catcher]

I also got same day service. He got here about 2:30 this afternoon. I only have one spring on my 8' garage door. About an hour and $160 later the job was done. I couldn't have gotten the specialty tools and parts to fix it for that. I have done a lot of maintenance work but never anything like this. I would have been lost trying to do this myself.

[Dirtyeggroll]

11 hours ago, Log Catcher said:

I also got same day service. He got here about 2:30 this afternoon. I only have one spring on my 8' garage door. About an hour and $160 later the job was done. I couldn't have gotten the specialty tools and parts to fix it for that. I have done a lot of maintenance work but never anything like this. I would have been lost trying to do this myself.

That’s a very good turnout for you. The spring plus the turning bars would have cost probably half that. Plus all of the time you would have lost gathering tools, reading how to fix it and any doubt that you might not do it right. Glad it worked out for you.

 

For future, a broken spring shouldn’t keep the garage door from being opened. Might make it a little heavier, but you should be able to disengage the motor and open the door manually.

[FishinBuck07]

I would have needed a new garage door!  ?

[Log Catcher]

4 hours ago, Dirtyeggroll said:

That’s a very good turnout for you. The spring plus the turning bars would have cost probably half that. Plus all of the time you would have lost gathering tools, reading how to fix it and any doubt that you might not do it right. Glad it worked out for you.

 

For future, a broken spring shouldn’t keep the garage door from being opened. Might make it a little heavier, but you should be able to disengage the motor and open the door manually.

I don't have a door opener on my garage door. Since we don't keep a car or truck in it I never put one on it. It took me and the door guy to get it open as it was since this is an insulated door it is heavy anyway.

[Oregon Native]

Have been in garage when the ol spring has busted...very lucky to not get hit.  Just last week for some stupid reason a rod tube fell in slot by garage door and blocked door from coming down!!!  Soooo...door got sprung and cable unwound.  Put a screw driver in slot to prevent door from coming down on me and tried to fix cable that had unwound.  Now @#$% ....dummy me when I hit the lift again forgot about the screw driver......door really sprung and had to call a fixer ......  tube went to the recycle land!!!  But I'm safe and smiling......

 

[Log Catcher]

1 hour ago, Oregon Native said:

Have been in garage when the ol spring has busted...very lucky to not get hit.  Just last week for some stupid reason a rod tube fell in slot by garage door and blocked door from coming down!!!  Soooo...door got sprung and cable unwound.  Put a screw driver in slot to prevent door from coming down on me and tried to fix cable that had unwound.  Now @#$% ....dummy me when I hit the lift again forgot about the screw driver......door really sprung and had to call a fixer ......  tube went to the recycle land!!!  But I'm safe and smiling......

 

Glad you are okay and everything turned out okay in the end. Forgetting to remove the screwdriver sounds like something I would do. I am lucky the spring didn't break while I had the boat out. Getting the door open would not have been easy. I would have needed to find another place to store it or empty it out completely if I had to leave it outside here. It is so nice having such wonderful honest people around the neighborhood.

[jimmyjoe]

1 hour ago, Log Catcher said:

It is so nice having such wonderful honest people around the neighborhood. 

    I don't care if I'd have to live in a cardboard shack, that right there is the most important thing there is in a neighborhood.  jj

[Sam]

I believe that there was a reason the door failed.  Had you been able to get on the road and water something bad may have happened. Things happen for a reason. We just don’t know what it will be. I was following a slow moving vehicle in the hammer lane on I-95 and had to slow down. About 25 seconds later there was a state trooper with radar. Had the slow moving vehicle not been there I would have been ticketed. Have WAZE now